Canadian Coast Guard photo
The article is based on a story in the Hamilton Spectator of March 16, 2006.
An environmental contractor has gone to work removing decades of bird droppings from the interior of the Burlington Canal Main Light, the necessary first step toward restoration of the historic Hamilton lighthouse. If all goes well, visitors will be abel to climb the tower in 2008, the light's 150th anniversary year.
The old lighthouse marked the entrance to the Burlington Ship Canal, but it has been out of service since 1961, when the Queen Elizabeth Skyway's lift bridge was completed. The bridge soars over the lighthouse, carruing 25 million vehicles a year.
In 2003, the Beach Canal Lighthouse Group was formed to work for restoration of the tower, and after three years of planning their dreams are beginning to take shape. But Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which owns the building, can't turn it over to the group in a toxic condition, so the cleaning project became an essential step. F&O Canada is paying $25,000 to Restoration Environmental Contractors of Gormley for the job.
The work is being done by a three-man crew in airtight suits and gas masks--fortunately, the weather is still cool. Water blasting would damage the historic structure, so the droppings have to be removed the old fashioned way, with wire brushes.
After the guano is gone, the real work can begin: repointing the stone, restoring the lantern, and rebuilding the 79 wooden stairs of the tower.
Canadian Coast Guard photo
A large section of the outer wall of Nottawasaga Light fell sometime during December 1, 2004. The wall has had large cracks for years, probably caused by lightning strikes, and preservationsists were worried that damage like this might occur at any time. There was an electrical storm in the area not long before the collapse, so it's possible that another strike increased the damage beyond the wall's ability to stand.
Nottawasaga Light is one of the six Imperial Towers of Ontario. Located on a small island near Collingwood, at the southern end of Georgian Bay, it was built in 1858. The tower is 28 m (94 ft) tall and its double walls are built of limestone blocks. Like nearly all Canadian lighthouses, it has no lightning protection. When lightning strikes the tower, the air in the narrow space between the two walls is suddenly heated; the explosive expansion of the air cracks the tower walls. Similar problems exist at other lighthouses, but the isolated Nottawasaga tower seems especially prone to being struck by lightning bolts. We reported on this problem in an earlier article.
A relatively new preservation group in Collingwood is trying to raise the $600,000 estimated for a restoration of the tower before this damage. Sadly, lightning protection would have cost a lot less. Jim Kilgour, a leader of this group, has sent the following comments via email:
We were/are in the midst of negotiations that would have transferred the property to the Town of Collingwood and allowed us to do some immediate repairs to stabilize the structure for a few years until a major fundraising effort could collect the funds needed to do a restoration. It would appear the life of the lighthouse will now depend upon the will of the Federal and local governments as well as an outpouring of support from the public. It would now be necessary to get the restoration process underway next spring and summer, assuming the structure is stable enough to warrant the work.Presently the light is still working even though it has been officially decommissioned for some 18 months. The Coast Guard has ruled the tower unsafe for personnel to climb.
Donations to support restoration of the lighthouse would be welcomed. Donations can be sent to:
Leisure Services Department
Lighthouse Restoration
P.O. Box 157
Collingwood, Ont. L9Y 3Z5
Canada
This story is based on an article in the Toronto Star of June 22, 2005.
Volunteers operating and restoring the keeper's house at Flowerpot Island Light has closed the property and stopped all work after being asked to assume all public liability for the site. The demand came from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as a condition for renewal of the memorandum of understanding that permitted the group's work.
"We're volunteers protecting and saving a part of Canadian heritage for the Canadian people so we shouldn't have been put in this terrible position of potentially being sued out of existence," said Garry Keast, president of the Friends of Bruce District Parks.
The dispute is also preventing any work on restoration of the keeper's house at Cove Island Light nearby. The group also has a memorandum of understanding covering that light and had hoped to begin work soon. The Departrment now wants both understandings converted to formal leases.
The laibility issue is not theoretical. Recently a Toranto lawyer sued the University of Toronto Outing Club after he fell off his mountain bike on a ski trail the club maintains. As a result, costs for liability insurance for volunteer groups has gone through the roof throughout the province.
Mike Hecimovich, chief of real property for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, says the group has had liability all along. "The volunteers use the site at their own risk and are responsible for anyone they invite there," he said. The group has welcomed visitors to the station throughout the summer months.
"The Friends are a fabulous group," Hecimovich hastened to add. "I want to hug people like that for all the work they do. We'd like to see them stay and we hope to work something out with them." He said he was confident something can be worked out to address the problem before it affects hundreds of other volunteer groups across Canada.
Bruce County tourism director Chris Hughes is also hoping an agreement can be reached. "The lighthouses and light stations around the Bruce Peninsula attract people from all over the world, they are unique and highly significant," he said.
Tourists can still visit Flowerpot Island, but the light station will be closed indefinitely.
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December 2, 2004. Site copyright 2004 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.